Developed by Mrs. Lisa Newton

Introduction Have you ever wondered how plants grow and where they come from? Every plant needs certain things and can grow in all different shapes and sizes. During the webquest, you will become familiar with where a plant comes from, what it needs to survive and the different parts of a plant.

Task You are a plant detective. It is your job to investigate our classroom plants and investigate their needs by comparing the health of plants under different conditions. Your task to make a list of ways to determine if a plant is healthy and how to determine if a plant is not healthy, such as changes in its leaves, roots, stem, or flowers. You will create a plant journal that shows the different parts of your plant, the measurements of your plant, the findings of each plant station, and draw the differences in their appearance. Afterward, you will present to the class what you discovered as a plant detective.

Process 1. You will work with a friend. Together you will click here to locate the parts of a plant. The first page of your Plant Journal will be your drawing of the parts of a plant. 2. You and your friend will need to start at the Science Center and pick up 6 plant sheets and put them in your Plant Journal. Use the word cards to label your plant sheets. Each sheet gets a different name. For example, 1 sheet will be labeled Plant 1 - refrigerator, another sheet will be labeled Plant 2 - window, another sheet will be labeled Plant 3 - outside, another sheet will be labeled Plant 4 - box, another sheet will be labeled Plant 5 - with water, and the last sheet will be labeled Plant 6 - without water.

Process 3. After the sheets are labeled, visit each plant station and write a sentence describing what the plant looks like. Once a week, you will revisit each plant station and document the growth and appearance of each plant. 4. Look at the following web sites. They will help you complete your Plant Journal. Use what you learn from the following sites to complete your plant sheets. Learn about what plants need to grow and live. Learn about the life of a plant. Listen to this song to find out. Learn about photosynthesis. Watch and listen to this video clip. Learn about growing a plant. Navigate through this site to learn about plant growth.

Evaluation Click on the rubric to see how you willrubric be evaluated.

Conclusion 1. What was your favorite part of this activity? 2. What is one thing that your learned that you did not know before? 3. How can you use what you learned from this investigation of plants in the future?

Resources Parts of a Plant Plant song Photosynthesis Video Growing Plants Related books: See Plant PowerPoint for related children's books on plants. You can also click the first link under Step 4 under Task.